Rhea Dillon presents artwork to Year 10 and Lower Sixth

A new body of sculptures by Rhea Dillon that consider the formation of British and Caribbean identities

Rhea Dillon: An Alterable Terrain brings together new and existing sculptures as a conceptual fragmentation of a Black woman’s body. Examining material and colonial histories, theories of minimalism and abstraction, and Black feminist epistemologies. Dillon’s works evoke elements – including the eyes, mouth, soul and hands – of an amorphous, conceptual body that considers the formation of Caribbean and British identities.

On at Tate Britain until 1 January 2024.

Mrs Palmer and I had the pleasure of taking our Year 10 and Lower Sixth pupils to Tate Britain on Tuesday 12 December, we were warmly greeted by Rhea Dillon who invited us to see her solo exhibition An Alterable Terrain.

Rhea was an incredible Art student here at Croydon High which both Mrs Palmer and I had the pleasure in teaching. Rhea went on to study an Art foundation at Central St Martins and then continued there to complete her degree in Fashion Communication.

We are all incredibly proud of what she has achieved so far and it was fascinating to hear about her inspiration for the exhibition, she discussed each piece in length with us from their conception to realisation. It is a moment in our teaching career that we will never forget. Rhea said she was only going to show one group around her exhibition and that was always going to be the group from Croydon High. We are so grateful to her for giving us this opportunity, Rhea has just come back from Vienna and Miami exhibiting work and is off to Berlin next week!

We are proud of all of our pupils, past and present. This term we have been so impressed with the development Year 7 have made with their still life drawings and paintings, the progress has been incredible. Year 8 have demonstrated passion and excitement for their self-portrait and identity project and Year 9 have really flourished with their ceramics, what a term for KS3!

Year 10 and Lower Sixth have been busy experimenting with new materials and techniques and we are looking forward to seeing what they create with their personal projects. Year 11 & 13 have been busy preparing for their mocks and we hope you have enjoyed seeing some of their work, their 8 week examination preparation starts soon after Christmas, but we know they are completely ready for this challenge. It has been such an exciting and busy term for both Art & 3D Design and we cannot wait to see what the new year brings for our department. We look forward to sharing their work with you with our Work of the Week and One to Watch next year, but in the meantime have a very Merry Christmas.

Mrs Elizabeth Smith
Head of Art & 3D Design
Director of Teaching & Learning

Hearing from Rhea herself was an incredible experience as it allowed to me understand the complex message behind her more abstract, conspecisional art. I found it very clever how Rhea’s work always had a strong underlying meaning within in each piece, which linked across the entire exhibition. After hearing her thought process behind the work, each piece took on a new significance making it a more impactful piece. I enjoyed how passionate she was towards her work and how each piece was visibly well thought out – from the materials used, to the composition of the structures, and even to the smell of certain materials.

Milly
Lower Sixth
Fine Art pupil

Going to see an ex-pupil’s exhibition in Tate Britain was very inspiring, but I think seeing a young black woman and her exhibition beautifully putting her identity and history into the space to start a conversation was awe-inspiring. The room itself had a ceiling that she pointed out looks like the hull of a ship and also a human spine and no where does this comparison come together as ‘viciously’ (as she put) as in the slave trade. This was too perfect as she brought up conversations of this violence and cruelty she has in her ancestry in an exhibition of a museum created by a man that used money from the sugar industry to fund.

Rhea Dillon perfectly brought us on a journey through the eyes, body, lungs, hands and feet, soul and uterus of a black woman which historically has been constantly violated paired with the frequent interruption of alarms from visitors getting too close was a cruel irony that almost added to the meaning. Every detail that was a part of each piece was filled with such raw passion and pain that is integral to the significance and intention for each piece that after discovery was immediately translated to the observer.

India
Year 10
Fine Art pupil